Constitutions and Democracy in Post-National Times: A Political-Sociological Approach

Abstract

The modern idea of the constitution is closely tied up with the political form of the nation-state, but the post-national age assists various challenges to this idea, not least due to the emergence of constitutional or quasi-constitutional regimes both beyond and below the nation-state. While a good, and steadily growing, amount of research probes the constitutional dimensions on the international and supranational levels, the domestic dimensions and related transformations, and in particular the implications of constitutional pluralism for meaningful democratic practice, seem, however, less prominent in current debate. Domestic constitutional dynamics and conflict, not least regarding democratic participation, can be fruitfully analysed through the lens of a political-sociological approach to constitutions and constitutionalism. In order to outline such an approach in one specific way, firstly, the recent (re-) emergence of constitutional sociology is discussed. Secondly, constitutional sociology is situated within a wider debate on constitutionalism and democracy. Thirdly, a sociological, ‘historical-functionalist’ approach to the analysis of constitutions is proposed, which is then related to a comparative and interpretative political sociology of constitutional discourses and political, legal, and social critique.